This relates to personal area networks, devices that may be used in such networks and applications using such networks.
Electronic devices may be equipped with some form of relatively short range communications circuitry, such as Bluetooth communications circuitry, for enabling communication between those devices. For example, a computer and a mouse may each have Bluetooth communications circuitry and may be able to communicate to each other via a Bluetooth protocol. In another example, a wireless telephone may communicate with a headset via Bluetooth or other protocol.
Certain devices, such as wireless telephones, may include circuitry for handling relatively short range communications protocols (e.g., Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) and relatively long-range communications protocols (e.g., RF communications protocols such as GSM, GSM with EDGE, and quadband). Other devices may be devoid of any such communications circuitry. Such devices may include, for example, digital music and video players such those device sold under the name iPod® from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. It is common for a user to carry both a multi-communications protocol device (e.g., wireless telephone) and a communicationless protocol device (e.g., digital music player). However, because these devices are independent of each other—that is, they do not communicate with each other—the user may be burdened with the task of switching between devices to perform a desired function (e.g., place a call or listen to music). Systems may exist for interfacing the multi-communications protocol device (e.g., phone) with the communicationless protocol device (e.g., digital music player), however, such systems require a cumbersome use of wires to interface the devices (even if the wire is attached to relatively short range circuitry for communicating wirelessly with the relatively short range circuitry of the multi-communications protocol device).